Creator to have granted him longer life. Having said this, he allowed the priests to proceed, and shortly after, according to the prediction of the physicians, gave up the ghost the last day of August, 1422, in the 34th year of his age.

9

Monstrelet, vol. i., p.483.

FUNERAL OF HENRY V.

The body of King Henry was carried in great funeral pomp, attended by the English princes, his household, and a multitude of other people to the Church of Notre Dame, in Paris, where a solemn service was performed; after which it was conveyed to Rouen in the same state, where it remained a considerable time. The royal coffin was placed within a car drawn by four large horses, having on its top a representation of the deceased monarch in boiled leather, elegantly painted, with a rich crown of gold on the head; in his right hand a sceptre, in his left a golden ball, with his face looking to the heavens. Over the bed on which the representation lay was a coverlid of vermillion silk interwoven with beaten gold. When it passed through any towns, a canopy of silk (like to what is carried over the host on Corpus Christi day) was borne over it. In this state, attended by his princes and the knights of his household, did the funeral proceed from Rouen straight to Abbeville, where the body was placed in the church of St. Ulfran, with rows of priests on each side of the coffin, who day and night incessantly chaunted requiems. Masses were daily said for his soul in the churches of all the towns through which the funeral passed, from break of day until noon. From Abbeville the procession proceeded to Heshen, and thence to Montreul, Boulogne and Calais. During the whole way there were persons on either side of the car, dressed in white, carrying lighted torches: behind it were his household clothed in black, and after them his relatives in tears, and dressed in mourning. At about a league distance followed the queen, with a numerous attendance. From Calais they embarked for Dover, and, passing through Canterbury and Rochester, arrived in London on Martinmas Day. When the funeral approached London, fifteen bishops, dressed in pontificatibus, several mitred abbots and churchmen, with a multitude of persons of all ranks, came out to meet it. The churchmen chaunted the service for the dead as it passed over London Bridge, through Lombard-street to St. Paul's Cathedral. Near the car were the relations of the late king uttering loud lamentations. On the collar of the first horse that drew the car were emblazoned the ancient arms of England; on that of the second the arms of France and England quartered, the same as he bore during his lifetime; on that of the third the arms of

Hume, remarking on this determination, says, "So ingenious are men in doceiving themselves, that Henry forgot in these moments all the blood spilt by his ambition, and received comfort from this late and feeble resolve, which, as the mode of these enterprises was now past, he would certainly never have carried into execution."

France simply; on that of the fourth horse were painted the arms of the noble king Arthur, whom no one could conquer: there were three crowns or, on a shield azure. When the funeral service had been royally performed in the cathedral, the body was carried to be interred in Westminster Abbey with the kings his ancestors. At this funeral, and in regard to everything concerning it, greater pomp and expense were made than had ever been done for two hundred years at the interment of any king of England; and even how as much honour and reverence is daily paid to his tomb, as if it were certain he was a saint in paradise.*

Monstrelet, vol. i., p. 485.

PERSON AND CHARACTER.

The exterior figure of this great prince, as well as his deport ment, was engaging; his stature was somewhat above the middle size, his countenance beautiful, his limbs genteel and slender, but full of vigour, and he excelled in all warlike and manly exercises. He possessed many eminent virtues; and if we give indulgence to ambition in a monarch, or rank it as the vulgar are inclined to do, among his virtues, they were unstained by any considerable blemish. His abilities appeared equally in the cabinet and in the field. The boldness of his enterprises was no less remarkable than his personal valour in conducting them. He had the talent of attaching his friends by his affability, and of gaining his enemies by address and clemency. Hume, vol. iii., p. 117.

The splendour which conquest threw round the person of Henry during his life still adheres to his memory, four centuries after his death: but he was not only a warrior, he was also a statesman. Lingard, vol. v., p. 48.

CHRONICLE

1416. Lanthorns first hung out at night in the city of London, for the convenience and safety of the citizens. 1417. Holborn first paved. 1418. Sir John Oldcastle, the chief of the Lollards, burnt in St. Giles-fields; his execution was attended with circumstances of unusual barbarity, he was burnt, suspended by chains from a gallows. 1419. Lincoln College at Oxford founded by Richard Fleming, Bishop of Lincoln. In this reign the palace at

*Monstrelet relates a joking expression respecting Henry, which he says was afterwards often repeated. Sir Sarrasin d'Arley, uncle to the Vidame of Amiens, being laid up with the gout, was very anxious to learn news of what was going on, and questioning his poursuivant, named Haurenas, if he had heard any pat ticulars of the death of the King of England, he said he had, and he had even seen his corpse at Abbeville, in the church of St. Ulfran, and then related how he was attired, nearly as has been before described. The knight then asked him on his faith, if he had diligently observed him. On his answering that he had, "Now on thy oath tell me," added Sir Sarrasin, "if he had his boots on." "No, my lord, by my faith he had not." The knight then cried out. “Haurenus, my good friend, never believe me if he has not left them in France!"

71

Richmond, and the castle of Kenilworth were rebuilt. Linen was considered a great luxury, and little used. Playing cards in vented in France, it is said, to amuse the unfortunate Charles VI., when suffering from mental derangement.

The ecclesiastical history of this period is principally remarkable from the severe laws enacted against the Lollards. One of them enacted, that whoever read the scriptures in English should forfeit lands, chattels, goods, and life, and be condemned as heretics to God, enemies to the state, and traitors to the kingdom; that they should not have the benefit of any sanctuary; and that if they continued obstinate or relapsed after pardon, they should first be hanged for treason against the king, and then burned for heresy against God. Ball, fol. 46. T. Elsham, p. 33.

REIGN OF HENRY VI

FROM 1422 TO 1461-38 YEARS, 5 MONTHS, 4 DAYS.

THE INFANT KING.

Directly after the obsequies of her husband Katherine retired to Windsor Castle, to embrace her babe, and pass the first weeks of her widowhood. Her little child was eight months old on the day of his warlike father's death.

When the parliament met she removed to London, and passed through the city on a moving throne, drawn by white horses, and surrounded by all the princes and nobles of England. The infant king was seated on her lap, "and those pretty hands," says one of our quaint chroniclers, "which could not yet feed himself, were made capable of wielding a sceptre; and he who was beholden to nurses for milk, did distribute sustenance to the law, and justice to his nation. The queen, with her infant on her knee, was enthroned among the lords, whom, by the chancellor, the little king saluted, and spoke to them at large his mind by means of another's tongue." The king conducted himself with extraordinary quietness and gravity, considering he had not yet attained the age of twelve months. Two days before the opening of the parliament, in 1425, Katherine entered the city in a chair of state, with her child sitting on her knee. When they arrived at the west door of St. Paul's Cathedral, the duke protector lifted the infant king from his chair, and set him on his feet, and then, with the Duke of Exeter, led him between them up the stairs going into the choir, from whence the royal infant was carried to the high altar, where he kneeled for a time, a traverse having been prepared for him. It is expressly said "that he looked sadly about him," and then he was borne into the churchyard, and there set upon a fair courser, to the infinite delight of the people, and so conveyed through Cheapside to St. George's-bar, to his Dwn manor of Kennington. At Kennington Palace, Katherine

and her royal son reposed till the 30th April, when they set out on a grand procession through the city to Westminster Palace. The little king was held on a great white horse, and the people flocked in multitudes to see him, declaring he had the features of his father, and loaded him with blessings. Being come to the palace, Katherine seated herself on the throne in the Whitehall, where the House of Lords was held, with the infant sovereign on her lap. Agnes Strickland's Queens, vol. iii., p. 146.

JOAN D'ARC.

Charles VII., the King of France, dissuaded by the entreaties of his queen and the fair Agnes Sorel from his ignoble intention of retreating from the English, who, after numerous successes, were besieging the city of Orleans, had determined to dispute every inch of ground with his imperious enemy, and perish with honour in the midst of his friends, rather than yield ingloriously to his bad fortune, when relief was unexpectedly brought him by another female of a very different character, who gave rise to one of the most singular revolutions that is to be met with in history. In the village of Domremi, near Vancouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine, there lived a country girl called Joan D'Arc; she was servant in a small inn, and in that station had been accustomed to tend the horses of guests, to ride them to the watering places, without saddle, and perform duties which in larger houses are generally performed by men. She was twenty-seven years of age, of an irreproachable life, and hitherto had not been remarked for any striking singularity. The siege of Orleans, the progress of the English before that place, the great distress of its brave defenders, had turned thither the public eye, and Joan, inflamed by the general sentiment, was seized with a wild desire of bringing relief to France in its present distresses. Her inexperienced

Agnes Sorel was so distinguished for her loveliness that she was called "The Fairest of the Fair," and "The Lady of Beauté," as well on account of her personal charms, as because the king had given her for life the castle of Beauté, sur Marne, near Paris. It is said that Charles's affection for her caused him to neglect public business, but that Agnes contrived to excite him with such animosity against the English, that it was principally by her influence they were driven out of the kingdom, and France was saved. It is said she assured him that an astro loger had foretold to her that she would cptivate the affections of the greatest king in the world, but that this prediction had no reference to him, since he neglected to establish his authority m a state which his enemies had usurped, and that in order to accomplish it she would be obliged to repair to the court of England. These reproaches roused the king from his lethargy, and he took the field to gratity at once his love and his ambition. Monstrelet, vol. 1., p. 177.

The latter part of the life of this renowned beauty, to whom France is so much indebted, was passed in penitence and charity at Jumiéges in Normandy, where she died, and was buried in the church of the Virgin. No vestige of the monument erected to her memory is now to be found in the church, but a portion of it forms the balcony of a house in Rouen, where still may be read the inscription:

"Dome de Beauté, de Roqueferriere, d'Issoudun et de Vero-sur-Seine, petense entret utes gens, el qui largement donne de ses deniers aux égi ses et aux pauores laquelle t. épassa.

mind, working day and night on this favourite object, mistook the impulses of passion for heavenly inspirations, and she fancied that she saw visions and heard voices, exhorting her to reestablish the throne of France, and to expel the invaders. An uncommon intrepidity of temper made her overlook all dangers which might attend her in such a path; and thinking herself destined by heaven to this office, she threw aside all that bashfulness and timidity natural to her sex, her years, and low station. She went to Vancouleurs, procured admission to Boudricourt, the governor; informed him of her inspirations and intentions, and conjured him not to neglect the voice of God, but second her in her glorious enterprise. Boudricourt treated her at first with some neglect; but on her repeated solicitations, he began to remark something extraordinary in the maid, and was at length determined to send her to the French court.

It is pretended that Joan, immediately on her admission, knew the king, though she had never seen his face before, and though he purposely kept himself in the crowd of courtiers, and laid aside everything in his dress and apparel which might distinguish him. She offered to him, in the name of the Creator, to raise the siege of Orleans, and conduct him to Rheims, there to be crowned and anointed, and on his expressing doubts of her mission, she revealed to him a secret respecting himself, which nothing apparently but inspiration could have discovered to her. As the instrument of her future victories, she demanded a particular sword, which was kept in the church of St. Catharine of Fierbois, which, though she had never seen it, she described by all its marks, and mentioned the place where it had long lain neglected. An assembly of grave doctors and theologians examined Joan's mission, and pronounced it undoubted and supernatural. She was interrogated also by the parliament of Poictiers, who came to the same conclusion.

There was no longer any doubt of her acting under the Divine influence, and all her requests were complied with; she was clothed in man's attire, armed cap-à-pie, and shown in that marshal habiliment before the whole people. Her dexterity in managing her steed, though acquired in her former occupation, was regarded as a proof of her mission, and she was received with the loudest acclamations by the spectators.

Her first exploit was triumphantly to carry provisions into Orleans in the face of the enemy; she next compelled them to raise the siege, and retreat, and, after many gallant actions, she performed the last part of her promise, by conducting the king to Rheims, where he was crowned. During the ceremony the maid, with her consecrated banner unfurled, stood by the king's side; as soon as it was over she threw herself on her knees, embraced his feet, declared her mission accomplished, and with tears solicited his leave to return to her former station; but the king was unwilling to lose the services of one who had hitherto proved so useful, and, at his earnest request, she consented to remain with

L